Bulger killer’s new identity leaked

Bulger killer’s new identity leaked

ONE of British toddler James Bulger's killers has reportedly demanded plastic surgery after photographs allegedly showing what he looks like now were circulated on social media at the weekend.

At least two images purporting to be recent snaps of Jon Venables, now 35, were leaked to Twitter along with his new name and the prison in which he is currently incarcerated.

The photographs, seen by news.com.au, were posted by a vigilante who has been circulating information about Venables and his co-accused Robert Thompson on Twitter since 2013.

Two-year-old murder victim James Bulger. Picture: File

They were removed from the platform but not before the images were shared countless times in violation of a worldwide court injunction which prevents images of the pair from being published or shared online.

Shameless actor Tina Malone is one of several members of the public who now face the possibility of prosecution after she shared a tweet said to reveal the new identity of Venables and that of his girlfriend, according to reports in the UK press.

Malone, 55, admitted to retweeting the post but claimed she had no idea she was doing anything wrong.

"What are you going to do … prosecute me for posting a picture? I didn't realise. I am not au fait with the law."

Jon Venables and Robert Thompson in their original police mugshots. Picture: Supplied

Now Venables is reportedly terrified of being attacked or killed in jail, where he is serving time following a recent conviction for downloading child pornography, and has begged authorities for an operation to change his looks.

"He says he is a dead man walking and is terrified once people discover who he is he will be killed," a prison source told The Star.

A surveillance camera shows the abduction of two-year-old James Bulger, pictured holding the hand of Jon Venables in a Liverpool shopping mall on February 12, 1993 at 3:42pm. Picture: BWP Media via Getty Images

"Venables knows that there are plenty of people who are willing to do a life sentence to have him dead.

"Being in jail is no protection either. He says he is just as at risk on the inside as he is in the outside world."

Venables has reportedly now been moved to a segregated unit for his own safety and said to be on suicide watch.

James Bulger with his mother Denise Fergus in 1992. Picture: Bonnier Publishing

Venables and Thompson abducted, tortured and killed two-year-old James in Liverpool in 1993 when they were both aged just 10.

Haunting CCTV footage shows the pair leading the tiny, trusting boy from a Merseyside shopping mall.

The toddler was found two days later on a railway embankment with horrific injuries inflicted with an iron bar and bricks; his body was left across a track, where it was cut in two by a train to make it look like an accident.

The High Court injunction put in place by Judge Elizabeth Butler-Sloss states: "Any depiction, image in any form, photograph, film or voice recording made or taken on or after 18 February 1993, which purports to be of Jon Venables or Robert Thompson or any description which purports to be of their physical appearance, voices or accents at any time since that date" is in breach of the order.

Any breach of this order, effective worldwide, is a "contempt of court" punishable by up to two years in prison and an unlimited fine.